Expansion of renewable energies – cooperation between ForstBW and Deutsche ErdWärme GmbH

Minister Peter Hauk MdL: “If we want to achieve our climate protection goals, we have to increase the supply of renewable resources and broaden them. With the cooperation between ForstBW and Deutsche ErdWärme GmbH, we are advancing the energy and heat development in the state.”

“We want to protect our climate and make a contribution to the energy and heat transition. By generating geothermal energy, Baden-Württemberg is taking a further step towards climate neutrality. ForstBW is fulfilling the mandate from the coalition agreement and living up to its role model in measures against global warming,” said the Minister for Food, Rural Areas and Consumer Protection and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of ForstBW Peter Hauk MdL.

At the end of September 2023, Forst Baden-Württemberg (ForstBW) and Deutsche ErdWärme concluded a permission agreement for the use of a property to promote geothermal energy near Philippsburg.

Max Reger, CEO of ForstBW: “We are pleased that, in addition to wind power, solar energy and wood, we can now use geothermal energy to create the basis for the extraction of another natural resource. We are sending an important signal for the future.”

With Deutsche ErdWärme, ForstBW has found a partner who, on the one hand, has many years of experience in the field of deep geothermal energy, but is also rooted in the region with a company headquarters in Karlsruhe.

In-depth reports and compensatory measures
Before the thermal power plant is built, there are a number of studies that check the site's compatibility with nature and soil suitability, for example. The area used is being renatured elsewhere by German ErdWärme as part of compensatory measures.

Herbert Pohl, Managing Director of Deutsche ErdWärme: “We are pleased to have found another location for a geothermal energy plant with the property in Philippsburg. The plant in Philippsburg will make a further contribution to converting the region’s heat supply to renewable energies.”

Geothermal energy
Geothermal energy, the so-called geothermal energy, uses warm water reservoirs in deep layers of the earth. The hot water is pumped up through a borehole, where it is used to generate electricity or heat. In a thermal power plant, the water passes through a heat exchanger, transfers its energy to another temperature carrier and is then pumped back into the ground. In this way, water is not permanently removed from the circuit, but only the thermal energy is used.